A Mechanical Design for Efficient Hopping of Planetary Rover on Soft Soil

This paper presents a novel mechanical design for efficient traverse of hopping rovers. In order to continue the exploration of planetary environment without any human help, optimizations and efficient designs of rovers are essential. In particular, improving robustness and decreasing energy consumption are crucial aspects of rovers design. Hopping efficiency on sandy surfaces is strikingly worse than on hard ground, because such soil is deformed and easily causes slip. The purpose of this paper is to develop a novel mechanical design which can get enough friction from granular media. First, the effects of soft soil for hopping are studied by comparing with hopping on hard ground in terms of energy. Next, a novel foot pad design for hopping on planetary terrain is proposed. Inspired by the conventional wheeled vehicle design, treads, called grouser, are installed for the bottom of the proposed foot pad. The effectiveness of the proposed design is validated through experimental evaluation.

[1]  Takashi Kubota,et al.  Hopping Motion Estimation on Soft Soil by Resistive Force Theory , 2017, J. Robotics Mechatronics.

[2]  Marco Pavone,et al.  Contact Dynamics of Internally-Actuated Platforms for the Exploration of Small Solar System Bodies , 2014 .

[3]  Greger Thornell,et al.  The Highland Terrain Hopper (HOPTER): Concept and use cases of a new locomotion system for the exploration of low gravity Solar System bodies , 2016 .

[4]  Tetsuo Yoshimitsu,et al.  Development of autonomous rover for asteroid surface exploration , 2004, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2004. Proceedings. ICRA '04. 2004.

[5]  Brian Yeomans,et al.  Towards terrain interaction prediction for bioinspired planetary exploration rovers , 2014, Bioinspiration & biomimetics.

[6]  Kazuya Yoshida,et al.  Development and Field Testing of Moonraker : a Four-Wheel Rover in Minimal Design , 2014 .

[7]  Daniel I Goldman,et al.  Flipper-driven terrestrial locomotion of a sea turtle-inspired robot , 2013, Bioinspiration & biomimetics.

[8]  D. Goldman,et al.  Sidewinding with minimal slip: Snake and robot ascent of sandy slopes , 2014, Science.

[9]  Raul A. Romero,et al.  Athena Mars rover science investigation , 2003 .

[10]  Emily Lakdawalla,et al.  China lands on the Moon , 2014 .

[11]  A. Ijspeert,et al.  From Swimming to Walking with a Salamander Robot Driven by a Spinal Cord Model , 2007, Science.

[12]  M. G. Bekker,et al.  Off-the-Road Locomotion: Research and Development in Terramechanics , 1960 .

[13]  Alfred A. Rizzi,et al.  Autonomous navigation for BigDog , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[14]  Jeffrey A. Edlund,et al.  Axel and DuAxel rovers for the sustainable exploration of extreme terrains , 2012, J. Field Robotics.

[15]  W. Carrier.  Soviet rover systems , 1992 .

[16]  Brian H. Wilcox,et al.  Sojourner on Mars and Lessons Learned for Future Plantery Rovers , 1998 .

[17]  Jo Yung Wong,et al.  Theory of ground vehicles , 1978 .

[18]  R. Sagdeev,et al.  Brief history of the Phobos mission , 1989, Nature.

[19]  Raymond E. Arvidson,et al.  Relating geologic units and mobility system kinematics contributing to Curiosity wheel damage at Gale Crater, Mars , 2017 .

[20]  Shinji Hokamoto,et al.  Evaluation of efficient attitude of a multi-legged planetary exploration rover with isotropic leg arrangement , 2010 .

[21]  Hajime Yano,et al.  Landing and mobility concept for the small asteroid lander MASCOT on asteroid 1999 JU3 , 2010 .

[22]  Jeffrey A. Edlund,et al.  Axel , 2009, IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine.

[23]  Frank Kirchner,et al.  Design of a High Mobile Micro Rover within a Dual Rover Configuration for Autonomous Operations , 2014 .

[24]  Robert Manning,et al.  Systems engineering the Curiosity Rover: A retrospective , 2013, 2013 8th International Conference on System of Systems Engineering.

[25]  Chen Li,et al.  A Terradynamics of Legged Locomotion on Granular Media , 2013, Science.

[26]  Aaron M. Johnson,et al.  Autonomous legged hill and stairwell ascent , 2011, 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Safety, Security, and Rescue Robotics.